Alexey Pavlovich Okladnikov (russian: Алексе́й Па́влович Окла́дников; 1908–1981) was a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

, and

ethnographer Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject o ...

, an expert in the ancient cultures of

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

and the Pacific Basin. He was elected a full member of the

Academy of Sciences of the USSR The Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union was the highest scientific institution of the Soviet Union from 1925 to 1991, uniting the country's leading scientists, subordinated directly to the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (until 1946 ...

in 1968, and awarded the honorary title of the

Hero of Socialist Labor The Hero of Socialist Labour (russian: links=no, Герой Социалистического Труда, Geroy Sotsialisticheskogo Truda) was an honorific title in the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries from 1938 to 1991. It repre ...

(1978). The childhood of the scientist took place in

Biryulka Biryulka (russian: Бирю́лька) is a rural locality (a '' selo'') in Kachugsky District of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, located on the Lena River near its headwaters northwest of Lake Baikal. Etymology Biryulka is named after the small Bira Ri ...

village in Siberia. In 1938–1961, Okladnikov worked in the Leningrad Division of the Archeology Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Since 1961 Head of the Division of Human Research of the Economics Institute, Siberian Division of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Since 1966 Director of the Institute of History, Philology and Philosophy, Siberian Division of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Since 1962, Professor and Head, Department of History, of

Novosibirsk State University Novosibirsk State University is a public research university located in Novosibirsk, Russia. The university was founded in 1958, on the principles of integration of education and science, early involvement of students with research activities an ...

. His works include research on ancient history of

Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The ter ...

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

, and

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

. He identified numerous cultures of the

Paleolithic The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic (), also called the Old Stone Age (from Greek: παλαιός ''palaios'', "old" and λίθος ''lithos'', "stone"), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone too ...

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...

Bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...

, and Iron Ages in Siberia and the Far East. A. P. Okladnikov taught field studies in

, the

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

and

. In 1971, he supervised excavations at

Zashiversk Zashiversk (russian: Зашиверск; sah, Зашиверскай) was a town north of the Arctic circle in what is now the Sakha Republic (formerly Yakutia), Russia. It was located on the right bank of the Indigirka River where the river mak ...

and the relocation of the historic Spaso-Zashiverskaya Church to

Novosibirsk Novosibirsk (, also ; rus, Новосиби́рск, p=nəvəsʲɪˈbʲirsk, a=ru-Новосибирск.ogg) is the largest city and administrative centre of Novosibirsk Oblast and Siberian Federal District in Russia. As of the Russian Census ...

, where it is now displayed. He excavated and studied remnants of

Neanderthal Neanderthals (, also ''Homo neanderthalensis'' and erroneously ''Homo sapiens neanderthalensis''), also written as Neandertals, are an extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ago. While th ...

culture in

Teshik-Tash Teshik-Tash 1 is a Neanderthal skeleton discovered in 1938 in Teshik-Tash Cave, in the Bajsuntau mountain range, Uzbek SSR, Central Asia. The remains were discovered in 1938 by A. P. Okladnikov. They were found in a shallow pit, reported to be ...

Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked cou ...

, Paleolithic remnants in

Priamurye Amur Oblast ( rus, Аму́рская о́бласть, r=Amurskaya oblast, p=ɐˈmurskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located on the banks of the Amur and Zeya Rivers in the Russian Far East. The administrative ...

and

, as well as

petroglyphs A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions ...

on the banks of the

Lena River The Lena (russian: Ле́на, ; evn, Елюенэ, ''Eljune''; sah, Өлүөнэ, ''Ölüöne''; bua, Зүлхэ, ''Zülkhe''; mn, Зүлгэ, ''Zülge'') is the easternmost of the three great Siberian rivers that flow into the Arctic Ocean ...

and the

Angara River The Angara ( Buryat and mn, Ангар, ''Angar'', "Cleft"; russian: Ангара́, ''Angará'') is a major river in Siberia, which traces a course through Russia's Irkutsk Oblast and Krasnoyarsk Krai. It drains out of Lake Baikal and is ...

In 1945, Okladnikov examined the remains of a Russian polar expedition base left in 1617 in the

Faddey Islands The Faddey Islands (Russian: Острова Фаддея; Ostrova Faddeya) is a group of islands in the Laptev Sea, Russia. Geography The Faddey Islands group is located in the coastal region, off Faddey Bay (залив Фаддея) in the coas ...

off the north-eastern coast of the

Taymyr Peninsula The Taymyr Peninsula (russian: Таймырский полуостров, Taymyrsky poluostrov) is a peninsula in the Far North of Russia, in the Siberian Federal District, that forms the northernmost part of the mainland of Eurasia. Administrati ...

, where he also made other discoveries. He is the author of the ''Summary on the History of Ancient Society and the Ancient Culture of Paleolitic and Neolithic Art, the History of Siberia, the Far East and the Far North''. The museum of

Khabarovsk Khabarovsk ( rus, Хабaровск, a=Хабаровск.ogg, r=Habárovsk, p=xɐˈbarəfsk) is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative centre of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia,Law #109 located from the China ...

is named the "Okladnikov Museum" in his honour.

Works

*
The Soviet Far East in Antiquity: An Archaeological and Historical Study of the Maritime Region of the U.S.S.R.
' (1965) *Окладников А.П. и др. "Древний Зашиверск", Москва, 1977 *Okladnikov, Alexei "Art of the Amur : Ancient Art of the Russian Far East", New York, 1982

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Okladnikov, Alexey 1908 births 1981 deaths People from Irkutsk Governorate Heroes of Socialist Labour Full Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences Russian ethnographers Soviet ethnographers Soviet archaeologists Soviet historians Novosibirsk State University academic personnel Burials at Yuzhnoye Cemetery (Novosibirsk) Scientists from Novosibirsk

Works

See also

Notes